Research & Publications

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We examine the processing and recovery of language in aphasia principally through the lens of temporally sensitive experimental methods, including visual world eye-tracking and electroencephalography / event-related potentials (EEG/ERP).

We are also interested in meta-analysis and systematic review of existing scientific literature, and the application of advanced statistical techniques to data we collect in our work (including linear mixed effects models, non-linear curve fitting, and other regression techniques).

Current Projects

  • Understanding who did what to whom: Sentence comprehension in agrammatic aphasia (visual world eye-tracking)
  • Neural signatures of word and sentence comprehension in aphasia (ERP)

Funding

We are currently supported by funding from East Carolina University.

Publications

2020-

Walenski, M., Mack, J.E., Mesulam, M-M., and Thompson, C.K. (2021). Thematic integration impairments in primary progressive aphasia: Evidence from eyetracking. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience: Speech and Language, vol. 14, article 587594. Doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.587594.

Barbieri, E., Litcofsky, K.A., Walenski, M., Chiappetta, B., Mesulam, M-M., & Thompson, C.K. (2021). On-line sentence processing impairments in agrammatic and logopenic Primary Progressive Aphasia: Evidence from ERP. Neuropsychologia, 151, 107728. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107728

Ullman, M.T., Sayako Earle, F., Walenski, M., and Janascek, K. (2020). The neurocognition of developmental disorders of language. Annual Review of Psychology, 71, 389-417. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-122216-011555.

2015-2019

Johari, K., Walenski, M., Reifegerste, J., Ashrafi, F., Behroozmand, R., Damei, M., and Ullman, M.T. (2019). A dissociation between syntactic and lexical processing in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 51, 221-235.

Johari, K., Walenski, M., Reifegerste, J., Ashrafi, F., and Ullman, M.T. (2019). Sex, dopamine, and hypokinesia: A study of inflectional morphology in Parkinson’s disease. Neuropsychology. doi: 10.1037/neu0000533.

Walenski, M., Europa, E., Caplan, D., & Thompson, C.K. (2019). An ALE-based meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies of sentence comprehension and production. Human Brain Mapping, 40(8), 2275-2304. doi: 10.1002/hbm.24523.

Hendrickson, K., Love, T., Walenski, M., and Friend, M. (2019). The organization of words and environmental sounds in the second year: Behavioral and Electrophysiological evidence. Developmental Science, 22(1), 1-16. doi: 10.1111/desc.12746.

Walenski, M., and Love, T. (2018). The Real-Time Comprehension of Idioms by Typical Children, Children with Specific Language Impairment and Children with Autism. Journal of Speech Pathology and Therapy, 3:1. doi: 10.4172/2472-5005.1000130.

Thompson, C.K., Walenski, M., Chen, Y., Caplan, D., Kiran, S., Rapp, B., Grunewald, K., Nunez, M., Zinbarg, R., and Parrish, T.B. (2017). Intrahemispheric perfusion in chronic stroke-induced aphasia. Neural Plasticity. doi:10.1155/2017/2361691.

Sullivan, N., Walenski, M., Love, T., and Shapiro, L.P. (2017). The curious case of processing unaccusative verbs in aphasia: A Test of the Intervener Hypothesis. Aphasiology, 31:10, 1205-1225. doi: 10.1080/02687038.2016.1274873.

Sullivan, N., Walenski, M., Love, T., and Shapiro, L.P. (2017). The comprehension of sentences with unaccusative verbs in aphasia: A test of the intervener hypothesis. Aphasiology, 31(1), 67-81. doi: 10.1080/02687038.2016.1154499.

Dye, C.D., Walenski, M., Mostofsky, S.H., and Ullman, M.T. (2016). A verbal strength in children with Tourette syndrome? Evidence from a non-word repetition task. Brain and Language, 160, 61-70. DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2016.07.005.

Sheppard, S.M., Walenski, M., Love, T., Shapiro, L.P. (2015). The auditory comprehension of Wh-questions in aphasia: Support for the intervener hypothesis. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. doi:10.1044/2015_JSLHR-L-14-0099.

Hendrickson, K., Walenski, M., Friend, M., and Love, T. (2015). The organization of words and environmental sounds in memory. Neuropsychologia, 69, pp. 67-76. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.01.035.

Walenski, M. (2015). Disorders. In Matthew Baerman (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Inflection (pp. 375-402). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2010-2014

Walenski, M., Mostofsky, S.H., and Ullman, M.T. (2014). Inflectional morphology in high-functioning autism: Evidence for speeded grammatical processing. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8, pp. 1607-1621. doi: 10.1016/j.rasd.2014.08.009.

Dye, C., Walenski, M., Prado, E., Mostofsky, S.H., and Ullman, M.T. (2013). Children’s computation of complex linguistic forms: A study of frequency and imageability effects. PLoS ONE, 8(9), e74683. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0074683.

Sheppard, J.K., Walenski, M., Wallace, M.R., Vargas Velasco, J.J., Porras, C., and Swaisgood, R.R. (2013). Hierarchical dominance structure in reintroduced California condors: correlates, consequences, and dynamics. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 67(8), 1227-1238. doi: 10.1007/s00265-013-1550-5

Poirier, J., Walenski, M., and Shapiro, L.P. (2012). The role of parallelism in the real-time processing of anaphora. Language and Cognitive Processes, 27(6): 868-886. doi: 10.1080/01690965.2011.601623.

Ferrill, M., Love, T., Walenski, M., and Shapiro, L.P. (2012). The time-course of lexical activation during sentence comprehension in people with aphasia. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 21(2): S179-S189. doi: 10.1044/1058-0360(2012/11-0109).

Callahan, S.M., Walenski, M., and Love, T. (2012). The processing and interpretation of verb-phrase ellipsis by children at normal and slowed speech rates. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 55(3): 710-725. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2011/10-0281).

Brumm, K., Walenski, M., Haist, F., Robbins, S.L., Granet, D.B., and Love, T. (2010). Functional magnetic resonance imaging of a child with Alice in Wonderland syndrome during an episode of micropsia. Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, 14(4): 317-322. doi: 10.1016/j.jaapos.2010.03.007.

Steinhauer, K., Drury, J., Portner, P., Walenski, M., and Ullman, M.T. (2010). Syntax, concepts, and logic in the temporal dynamics of language comprehension: evidence from event related potentials. Neuropsychologia, 48(6): 1525-1542. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.01.013.

Walenski, M.†, Weickert, T.W.†, Maloof, C.J., and Ullman, M.T. (2010). Grammatical processing in schizophrenia: Evidence from morphology. Neuropsychologia, 48(1): 262-269. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.09.012. (†The first two authors contributed equally to this project)